Republicans slam Utah Supreme Court gerrymandering ruling for ‘striking very heart of our republic’

Utah Republicans issued a resounding condemnation of the state’s Supreme Court ruling on redrawing district lines.

The state’s highest court declared the state’s legislature acted outside its authority when it passed legislation determining how to draw up new legislative districts, known as gerrymandering, after voters approved a 2018 ballot initiative greenlighting an independent redistricting process.

In a unanimous opinion, the court criticized lawmakers for usurping the democratic vote of the state’s residents.

“We hold that when Utahns exercise their right to reform the government through a citizen initiative, their exercise of these rights is protected from government infringement,” Justice Paige Petersen wrote in the opinion. “This means that government-reform initiatives are constitutionally protected from unfettered legislative amendment, repeal, or replacement.”

Republicans disagreed in the state legislature, arguing the court was legislating from the bench.

“Rather than reaching the self-evident answer, today the court punted and made a new law about the initiative power, creating chaos and striking at the very heart of our republic,” House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams said in a statement.

The two Republican leaders argue the legislature holds the authority to alter voter-approved laws, calling the decision, “One of the worst outcomes we’ve ever seen from the Utah Supreme Court.”

The decision the court handed down Friday could affect future voter ballot initiatives and the power of the state legislature to pass legislation altering them.

The gerrymandering saga began in 2018 when Utah voters narrowly approved a Better Boundaries ballot measure. Proposition 4 approved an independent commission to draw new boundaries for the state’s 2021 redistricting process. In 2020, the state legislature repealed and replaced Proposition 4, shifting the commission to an advisory role.

Angry over the proposition’s repeal, the League of Women Voters of Utah filed a lawsuit arguing the legislature violated Utahns’ right to shape their government.

While the state’s 3rd District Court initially ruled the legislature did not act improperly by altering Proposition 4, the Supreme Court’s Thursday decision swings the case back into Judge Dianna Gibson’s court.

Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) sounded a more resigned note than his Republican colleagues in the state legislature.

“While I disagree with some of the court’s analysis and determinations, I respect the role of the court in our system of government,” he said in a statement.

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In 2021, the governor offered a pragmatic take on the practice of drawing up districts to favor certain political outcomes.

“If you have to divide counties, Republicans are always going to divide counties with lots of Democrats in them,” Cox said during a live Facebook town hall. “And Democrats are always going to divide counties with lots of Republicans in them.”